


A Lesson Never Learned

by need_more_meta



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Force Choking (Star Wars), Hard Kylux, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, if you can call that relationship, no one is nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 14:28:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30023178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/need_more_meta/pseuds/need_more_meta
Summary: Hux wants him. Hux hates him. Nothing good can come out of this.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	A Lesson Never Learned

**Author's Note:**

> I was reading the lyrics for [Let It Burn by Red](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG2usu-el68) and somehow this happened.
> 
> Fair warning: this is not a happy story.
> 
> Betaed by the best ever [Hark_bananas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hark_bananas/pseuds/Hark_bananas). <3

Hux pulls his greatcoat tighter around himself. Crait is a cold planet, too cold for Hux’s liking. He’s accustomed to the carefully maintained temperatures on Star Destroyers, and his skin still remembers the humid warmth of Arkanis, even though the memories he has of his home planet are vague.

It’s not just the cold that makes him shiver, of course. No matter how much he doesn’t want to think about it.

His back is still sore from being hurled into a wall. He feels dizzy, and maybe he should think about visiting medical, checking himself for a concussion, but he doesn’t really want to move.

He doesn’t really want anything, if he’s being completely honest with himself.

Ren isn’t a tender person, no matter how much time they spend together, but he’s never been so outright violent. Hux rolls his abused shoulders and winces at the pull. This business with the scavenger girl has done something to Ren, made him more unhinged, almost driven him out of his mind. It disturbs Hux; more than that, it frightens him, and he isn’t easily intimidated.

He’s seen a lot in his, admittedly, not-so-long life. He’s stared death in the eye on more than one occasion, and he’s familiar with every kind of pain in existence, possibly. And yet nothing he’s seen compares to the wrath of Kylo Ren, the whirlwind of his unbridled rage, the sheer power of his raw fury. It’s beautiful, on the one hand, and deadly, on the other.

It draws Hux in, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

He hears footsteps behind him, white salt crunching under heavy boots. He doesn’t turn around. He isn’t ready, which doesn’t matter in the slightest.

“We should go back to the ship,” he says, looking straight ahead at the vast plain of the deserted planet. Mountains loom high on the horizon, covered with salt glittering under the low sun. It reminds Hux of the Starkiller Base, another grave failure of the First Order. “There’s nothing left to do here.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Ren says behind his back, his tone even and hollow.

Hux feels an invisible presence press on his neck from behind. He braces himself. It’s something between a caress and a warning, just a light pressure, a declaration of intent without any explanation. He should be used to it.

It always makes his breath catch.

The presence recedes and he hears footsteps again, moving in the opposite direction, now. A few moments later, he can hear Ren shouting orders. They’re to pack up and leave the planet.

There’s nothing left on Crait for them, except for a few broken dreams.

On the ship, Hux watches as Ren stalks down the corridor toward his quarters. He longs to follow him, his feet itching to take the few treacherous steps toward him until he notices and slams Hux into another wall. Violence is a given, now, the only thing Hux expects from Ren, and yet he yearns for it if it means Ren will touch him.

He’s pathetic. Has been for years. He doesn’t remember when it began; he only knows that it will end in disaster, if it hasn’t already.

Maybe he’s sick. Maybe he’s been poisoned by some malicious chemical that flows in Ren’s blood, giving him his powers. Whatever the cause, Hux needs Ren, more than water or air, more than power itself. It’s inconvenient, to say the least.

Biting his lip, Hux turns on his heel and goes to medical. He goes through the motions with the med droids, receives a clean bill of health, and gets ready to leave when he receives a comm from Ren.

_Come to my quarters._

A simple order, as is the Supreme Leader’s wont. He says the word and Hux obeys, like a loyal dog running to its master, its tail wagging with joy. It’s humiliating, has always been, but Hux barely has any pride left. He’ll obey this time, like all the others, and he’ll hate himself more than he hates Ren.

Ren would probably say it’s impossible. What does he know.

He makes his way to Ren’s quarters, feeling color rise high in his cheeks. He imagines himself as a dog, ears flat against his head, his tail trembling between his legs. His tongue falling out of his mouth as he strains to be a good boy for his master.

He thinks of Millicent, her easy grace and effortlessly haughty manner. What wouldn’t he give to be at least a bit like her instead of whatever he is.

The door to Ren’s quarters slides open as soon as Hux is in front of it. Ren is eager, though for what, Hux couldn’t say.

He walks inside, taking just one step past the door. Ren is pacing back and forth along the opposite wall, his hair wild around his pale face. He doesn’t look pleased.

“That was quite a display, down there,” Hux says before he can check himself. He sounds bitter, derisive, even, picking up a fight he can’t possibly win.

Ren turns to him abruptly, his eyes flashing. He throws his arm forward and Hux almost sighs in relief when an invisible hand picks him up and pins him against the wall. If anything, this is familiar, this is expected, this is what Hux knows. It’s not the skin-on-skin contact that he craves from Ren, but it’s something. He’s the focus of Ren’s attention right now, and that’s enough to warm him up from the inside.

He needs so little, it should be embarrassing. It is; Hux just doesn’t care anymore.

Ren takes a step toward him, his Force grip digging into Hux’s shoulders.

“What did you say?” he snarls, looking directly at Hux.

He’s magnificent when he’s angry, is all Hux can think.

“I said you handled the situation admirably, Supreme Leader,” he says, voice thick with mockery. “One might even say that you technically won that fight since your opponent failed to show up.” He’s dripping malice at Ren, absently curious as to what he’ll do about it.

He won’t kill him, of that Hux is sure. Ren needs him just as much.

Nostrils flaring, Ren takes another step toward Hux and raises his arm slightly. The Force grip moves from Hux’s shoulders to his throat, slowly squeezing the air out of him. Hux’s hands fly toward his neck on pure reflex, scratching at the invisible vice. It’s unfortunate, but even he isn’t able to stop his body from panicking at the threat of suffocation. His eyes don’t leave Ren’s, though, and he does everything he can to keep his gaze steady.

“Say that again,” Ren orders, not loosening his grip on Hux’s throat.

“You,” Hux croaks, his eyes stinging, “are insane.”

Ren growls, and the vice around Hux’s neck tightens, making his eyes bulge. He tries to gasp, his hands scrambling frantically at his throat.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe this is how he ends.

He’s almost ready for his entire wretched life to flash before his eyes when Ren drops his hand and the Force grip dissipates. Hux slides down the wall, his tailbone hitting the durasteel floor and sending a jolt up his spine. He takes in air in large gulps, and he probably looks especially stupid like that, but it doesn’t matter. None of any of it matters.

Not until Ren closes the distance between them, takes him by the lapels of his greatcoat, and pulls him up. His eyes are wide and his pupils are huge.

“Are you going to kill me, Ren?” Hux asks, voice tired and scratchy.

“You know I can’t,” Ren says before crushing his mouth to Hux’s.

They kiss rabidly, all tongues and teeth, biting at each other’s lips, swept further and further away by the passion that blooms, unbidden, between them.

 _This is how it always goes_ , Hux thinks to himself. This is how it’ll go this time as well.

They’ll kiss some more, brutal and terrible. Ren will tell Hux he wants him; Hux will tell him he wants him, too. Ren will lift him up, and Hux will wrap his legs around his waist, and Ren will carry him to his bed, large enough for everything they want to do to each other. They will fuck, desperately, ferociously, with barbaric abandon. They will bite each other, they will bruise each other, they will leave as many marks on each other as they can. They’ll be possessive, they’ll be merciless, they’ll be the opposite of reverent. They will destroy each other. They will leave each other annihilated.

A part of Hux wonders if he’d ever want an apology. If he’d ever want to see Ren tender, maybe even affectionate. This thing between them has been going on for years, now, and it has never changed. Ren hurts him; Hux comes to him nevertheless; they fuck; rinse and repeat.

It’s a banal story, and an ancient one. It always ends the same.

But for now, just for a brief, single moment, Hux can forget. He can lose himself in Ren’s body and play make-believe. He can tell himself that he will learn this time, that he won’t allow a next time, that he’ll talk to Ren with actual words and everything will change, and everything will be settled and splendid.

He breathes Ren in, his ire and his lust, and he turns away from the simplest, most miserable truth of his life: he will never learn.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is [retweetable](https://twitter.com/need_more_meta/status/1370850215780093956) and [rebloggable](https://need-more-meta.tumblr.com/post/645577940247134208/a-lesson-never-learned-needmoremeta-star)!
> 
> If you see something you like, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. :3
> 
> Come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/need_more_meta) and/or [Tumblr](https://need-more-meta.tumblr.com/)! <3 And check out my other works if you need a dose of soft Kylux after this.


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